Gardening in Nashville: Tips for finding affordable plants, advice
Warmer weather means breaking out the sun hats and spending more hours in your garden, a space which can add so much beauty to the home.
But trips to the nursery and maintaining plants can sometimes be costly. If you're looking for cost-effective methods on maintaining the curb appeal of your home, read on.
The Free Seed Exchange
The Nashville Public Library offers the Free Seed Exchange, a program free to Davidson County residents with a Nashville Public Library card. In partnership with local farmers, gardeners and community agencies, the library offers free gardening workshops throughout the year. Librarians are also available to provide their support and expertise.
In order to continue the program and share the joy of gardening, participants are asked to return seeds from their own gardens. The seeds must be dry, properly labeled and come from multiple, healthy plants.
Plant swaps
For people interested in trading plants with fellow gardening aficionados, joining different gardening groups in person or online can serve as a way to obtain new plants without having to pay out of pocket.
"Start checking out books from the library or magazines to pick which plants speak to you," said Dana Stein, vice president of operations at Gardens of Babylon. "With your list of plants, befriend local garden club members or neighbors who garden because gardeners always love to find friends to share plants with."
'Pass-along' plants
If you're looking to cover a wide area of space but are limited when it comes to funds, look no further than pass-along plants.
In the southern United States, the custom of sharing plants is especially popular. Pass-along plants are plants that you normally wouldn't be able to find at nurseries or garden centers. Instead, they're plants that have survived throughout the decades by being passed down from generation to generation.
These plants include iris, tall garden phlox, luneria, variegated solomon seal, mint, butterfly ginger lily, and black eyed Susan's.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gardening in Nashville: Tips for finding affordable plants, advice
